Introduction of utilization fee violates the decree of Tokayev on exemption of business from additional taxes during the pandemic - the head of "Zharas" farm

Less than a week is left before the order of the Ministry of Ecology on the introduction of utilization fee for agricultural machinery comes into force, and disputes over such controversial, according to farmers, decision does not cease to fade.  In their view, the utilization fee will not only increase the cost of agricultural machinery, but will also cause a chain negative effect, which will affect the prices of food and the lives of a huge number of people employed in agriculture.

We asked Mirbolat Tasmagambetov, head of the Zharas farm (Chingirlau district, WKR), to share his opinion on the introduction of utilization fee.

- Of course, we have a negative stance on it. For that matter, I would like to say that we actually have no machine-building. There are only screwdriver assemblages, pseudo factories, which simply screw the wheels on, and then pass it off as Kazakhstani production. But even they are subject to recycling. Nobody wants this utilization fee. Here, only the price of equipment increases and that's all. It seems that the state provides assistance with one hand - investment subsidies, which we can not always get, because there is no money or the program administrator is not accepting applications. We buy with our own money, then wait, six months, a year, some wait two or three years, some do not receive at all. For example, we have purchased several units today, but they tell me that applications for investment subsidies are not accepted. And as for the recycling, I do not even know, that just takes the cake.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in his address that there should be no additional taxes for business, especially agriculture, during this pandemic; on the contrary, there should be a reduction and mitigation. And it is in this period that they introduce additional utilization fee. It turns out that this is a violation of the presidential decree.

Besides, the reason for introducing this utilization fee is not clear at all. When you try to figure out what the point of this fee is, nothing comes up. It turns out that some firm takes on obligations, that when my equipment ages, this firm will provide me with utilization services. I'm sorry, but if you take John Deere for example, it's more likely that this firm and ministries will cease to exist until the John Deere harvester breaks down. Such advanced, modern machinery has served for 50 years with proper maintenance. That is, disposal is not required.

Frankly speaking, work of businessmen, including farmers is not about plowing or sowing, cleaning, digging, carrying, loading. We are all ready to do it unquestionably. We suffer from the fact that every day we are faced with new realities on the part of officials: some new tax is introduced, some additional collection, some restrictions on exports. All the time we struggle with this regulatory system. Our life seems to be going on in an eternal struggle. On the one hand, they seem to want to stimulate agriculture, but on the other hand, they start to put pressure on us with their regulations.

The purpose of this utilization fee is to make imported equipment unavailable, but we don't even have our own. There was the Pavlodar tractor factory, but it was leveled. And now pseudo factories have been opened, but we all understand very well what kind of machinery it is. We even accept it, if there was sense in it, if local factories were exempt from VAT. Let there be pseudo factories, we'd agree to that. Let there be minimal localization, let some screw be produced in Kazakhstan, for God's sake, but the fact is that domestic factories are not exempted from this fee either, the equipment will still become more expensive. It is beyond understanding. We keep saying this, but there is no point.

FROM EDITORIAL STAFF. The editorial staff of the World of Nan project has sent requests to the ministries that were involved in the preparation of the introduction of utilization fee, asking them to comment on the current situation in the agricultural sector.